Boycott Braehead – Father confronted by police for taking a photo of his daughter in a shopping arcade – Description: Dear Evening Times Newsdesk Around 4pm this evening I took the attached photo of my 4 year old daughter looking cute on the back of a vespa seat at an ice cream bar inside Braehead shopping centre in the middle of a shopping trip.

Among the first mainstream media to pick up on the story were sister titles The Firm (legal magazine) and The Drum (marketing, advertising and digital communicatiion). Each published reports on Sunday, October 9.

A campaign to boycott the Braehead Shopping Centre on the outskirts of Glasgow has gained momentum over the weekend after an account of an incident in which the Terrorism Act was cited against a father who took a picture of his 4 year old daughter on a novelty motorbike was posted to Facebook on Saturday night.

A social media campaign calling for people to boycott the Braehead Shopping Centre has begun to escalate, after its organiser was detained by security for taking a picture of his daughter.

Followed by STV news, which also published a story on its website on Sunday, October 9.

STV had been working on the story from the previous day, but took a clear editorial decision not to run the story until they had actually spoken to Mr White – the only reason they published slighly later than The Drum and The Firm:

A father who was allegedly questioned under the Terrorism Act after taking photographs of his four-year-old daughter enjoying an ice cream at a shopping centre has demanded an apology from Strathclyde Police. Chris White claims a security guard told him that the pictures, taken at the Braehead centre near Glasgow on Friday afternoon, were "illegal".

As the incident gathered steam online, Braehead used its official Twitter Channel to help spread its reaction – with a promise to ‘set the record straight’.

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Braehead would like to set the record straight on an incident involving a man taking photographs of a child in the mall http://bit.ly/pHSql5

Following various postings on social media websites and stories in the traditional media, Braehead would like to set the record straight on an incident involving a man taking photographs of a child in the centre, on Friday October 7.

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RT @thelifecraft: The Boycott Braehead page now has nearly 2100 likers. Epic PR fail, @Braehead #BraeheadFail Do the right thing and apologise! Profusely!

A Facebook campaign is calling for people to boycott a shopping centre after claims a man was questioned by police for taking photographs of his own four-year-old daughter. Chris White took a picture of Holly eating an ice cream in the Braehead shopping centre, near Glasgow.

Arount this time, a dedicated Twitter hashtag started to take off – #braehead fail – although it was started some time earlier on the weekend.

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If you’re angry at this FB post about shocking treatment of a mum and young daughter at #Braehead today on.fb.me/pYwSBy pls RT #Braeheadfail

Among the most active people criticising Braehead was communications specialist Michelle Rodger – who saw several of her Facebook comments removed from Braehead’s Facebook page (a real social media no-no):

On Monday morning the story became one of the main talking points on BBC Radio Scotland’s phone-in show – Call Kaye. One woman (around 53 minutes) told how her child was photographed/filmed by two strangers the day before the Chris White incident. There was no intervention by security staff.

Kaye Adams brings a human touch to the stories making the news, seeking out the personal stories behind the headlines and inviting her listeners to help shape the agenda. Kaye Adams brings a human touch to the stories making the news, seeking out the personal stories behind the headlines and inviting her listeners to help shape the agenda.

Some people shouldn’t be let loose on PR and social media. Particularly during a crisis or a major reputational issue. Today giant Scottish retail outlet Braehead Shopping Centre finds itself at the centre of a damaging controversy. A father photographed his daughter eating ice cream and was accosted first by security staff and then by police.

Strathclyde police have been praised by Government officials after foiling a plot by Al Qaeda terrorists to take photos of a three year-old eating ice-cream in Glasgow’s Braehead shopping centre. The plot, which detectives suspect might have been in the planning stages for up to eight minutes, would have seen a photo of the small child circulated to literally dozens of Facebook users.

One of the early movers on the story – The Firm online – revealed how it had covered a similar story a year earlier, with a different outcome.

The war against terror is a serious business and intelligence is one of our most powerful weapons. We need to be vigilant about any potential threat, no matter how small and insignificant it seems. You know, like little girls eating ice creams in shopping centres.

Meanwhile, more bloggers began to express their opinion on the matter:

A shopping centre’s worst nightmare is happening now live at Braehead. Over the weekend a man taking a photograph of his daughter on the mall was stopped by a security guard – the situation escalated and the police were called. The reason? You are not allowed to take photographs on the mall.

Now the story gets the gravitas treatment, as a blogger from the high brow Telegraph weighs in:

No doubt you’re as shocked as I am by the story of the photographer in Scotland questioned by police after taking pictures of his 4-year old daughter eating ice-cream in a shopping mall: Staff at an ice cream stall in Braehead shopping centre, near Glasgow, became suspicious when they saw Chris White taking pictures of his four-year-old daughter Hazel with his mobile phone at around 4pm on Friday afternoon.

This blog has recorded that the number of Likes on the protest Facebook page have far exceeded the number on the official Braehead page:

I’ve seen two very different experiences of the power of social media this weekend. One I experienced personally and the other I’ve witnessed over several channels. The first took place in Notting Hill, London. I’d been down on a business trip and had some free time on Saturday morning before I took the plane home to Scotland.

Well known Scottish media trainer and crisis management specialist, Paul Murricane, blogs about the situation:

Today, Monday 10th October, started like any average Monday for the head of PR at Breahead Shopping Centre outside Glasgow. Dull. As I write this at 4 pm the sky is lit up, metaphorically, with the flames of a classic PR disaster highlighting the wreckage of their reputation.

Almost 48 hours after breaking, the story gets the BBC treatment again – this time on the 6pm news

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Oh dear oh dear the @Braehead story made the BBC News at Six. Over 10,000 backing his Boycott Braehead group too.

We have listened to the very public debate surrounding our photography policy and as a result, with immediate effect, are changing the policy to allow family and friends to take photos in the mall. We will publicise this more clearly in the mall and on our website, and will reserve the right to challenge suspicious behaviour for the safety and enjoyment of our shoppers.

The shopping centre which called in the police after a man took photographs of his daughter eating an ice cream has apologised for any distress caused. Braehead Shopping Centre, near Glasgow, also said it was changing its policy on photography. In future, it will not try to prevent family and friends taking pictures of each other in the mall.

The dad at the centre of the entire row is still pretty fed up and says: “we’ve lost all perspective on common sense”:

The shopping centre near Glasgow says it has changed its policies to allow photographs of friends and family. Braehead Shopping Centre has issued an apology to a father who was asked to leave its premises for taking photographs of his four-year-old daughter.

The story even made Newsnight Scotland – the BBC’s flagship, show for heavyweight analysis of the day’s biggest news stories.

If you have access to the BBC iPlayer, you can watch the report here (from 10 mins 35 secs):

Comprehensive coverage of the day’s important national and international news stories presented by Glenn Campbell. Comprehensive coverage of the day’s important national and international news stories presented by Glenn Campbell.

At this point the story was also being talked about by communications professionals globally as an example of a public relations and social media misfire, including this article on the PR Daily

A father taking pictures of his daughter at a shopping center near Glasgow, Scotland, says he was banned from the mall and threatened with having his camera phone confiscated in the interest of preventing terrorism when he refused to delete the photos.

As the heat began to die out of the issue, The Drum (one of the publications which first broke the story) helpfully published a series of tips on crisis management for the management at Braehead Shopping Centre

Much has been written, blogged, tweeted, broadcast and picked through about this weekend’s explosion of publicity at Braehead. There are lots of complex points but for me, the main leaning points are simple and the crisis could have been averted before it made the local paper, never mind social media commentators in the Southern hemisphere.

To rub salt into the PR wounds, The Independent’s diary section points out that Brahead Shopping Centre is supported by four PR agencies and asks: “What were they all doing?”

We’re big fans here of BrewDog, the Scottish brewer with an eye for a marketing gimmick (it recently sold shares in itself to its customers). Still, is Sunk Punk, its latest new brew, just a gimmick too far?

Police have taken the unusual step of issuing a public denial of accusations made by a father who claimed he had been questioned for taking pictures of his young daughter at a shopping mall. Chris White said police interviewed him at Braehead Shopping Centre near Glasgow because they thought he may have posed a danger to children.

Mr White responded to the police statment by claiming the force is conducting a smear campaign against him and promising to sue.

Chris White last night vowed to sue Strathclyde Police A FATHER at the centre of a row over taking a picture of his daughter at a shopping centre is to take legal action against Scotland’s largest police force.

7 thoughts on “A social media SNAFU by Scottish Shopping Mall”

Hi Scott,
A great catalogue of the event – thank you for taking the time to give a snap shot as they unfolded.

Braehead are not untypical in their use of social media and lack of experience in dealing with negative online PR – all too often we see large, well known businesses fall into that trap of delete… then state “WE ARE IN OUR RIGHTS…” blah, blah – misreading public opinion or animosity by being too close to the situation and not knowing how to turn it into a positive – which was only too easy in this case.

Here’s hoping they invest in some Crisis planning training!

Braehead if you are reading this –
Scott’s number is: 0131 561 2244 (HolyroodPR)
Michelle’s is: 0141 255 0166 (TartanCat)
Mine…: 07968 847 210
We can all help… Braehead – make sure you ask for some now – so that next time… you’re better prepared!

All excellent points Colin.
I do have a bit of sympathy for Braehead.
This was a relatively minor customer relations incident which should have been resolved in seconds.
However, as you point out, for that to have happened, they would have needed to invest in the basics some time back.
I suspect its been as steep and harsh a learning curve for Braehead’s PR people as it has been for the centre management.
Good luck to them all moving forward – with luck they’ll be able to put this behind them and move on positively.
In the meantime, thanks for flagging up our contact numbers, as people who are already comfortable in this sphere.

I’m amazed, I have to admit. Rarely do I encounter a blog that’s both equally educative and interesting, and without a doubt, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The issue is an issue that too few folks are speaking intelligently about. I’m very happy I stumbled across this in my search for something relating to this.